Amanda Kenny

Said the following about Keltbray Electrification Plant:

“Keltbray Electrification Plant, which is part of Keltbray Group and provides electrification services for the rail industry, during 2015 Keltbray launched a new venture, which provides electrification plant, tools and access and welfare equipment for hire to rail clients.

In the past two years, Keltbray has invested more than £8 million in state of the art rail plant and equipment. As a result, the company owns one of the largest road rail vehicle fleets in the UK, which now counts nearly 100 vehicles, and views this new hire venture as a natural development of its strategic capabilities in the rail sector.

Director of Keltbray Rail Electrification, Martin Brown, said: “We see this new venture as an added way of providing value to our customers. Our equipment is user-friendly and boasts the latest safety and environmental features, such as state of the art control systems and a higher level of comfort for drivers and passengers. It is serviced by our own expert fitters and repairers, and by giving our clients access to this modern and well maintained equipment, we are also maximising our fleet and equipment utilisation, so everybody wins. The new venture will provide growth within our apprentice programme, generating opportunities for locally sourced school leavers.”

Keltbray Electrification Hire Services provides the following equipment rental to clients across the UK from its base in Crewe:

• Specialists in Overhead Line Electrification Tooling and Road Rail Machinery

• Isolation Equipment – Such as Live Line Testers and G-Clamps

• Bonding Equipment – Such as Cembre Rail Drills and Crimping Tools

• Lifting & Wiring – Such as Pull Lifts and Slings

• Access & Welfare – Such as Lighting, cabins and barriers.

Keltbray’s activities are based on putting customer needs first; and so as part of the hire service, the company will also provide nationwide support services with a 24 hour response, seven days a week.

With more than 370 employees, including 38 apprentices and many more subcontractors based out of Crewe, which is often referred to as the cradle of the railway industry, Keltbray is already a significant contributor to the local economy in Cheshire. The company decided to base the hire service here, where we see it as being well positioned with regards to the rail network and provides nationwide coverage, and where it is also able to tap into local skills and expertise. Keltbray also operates electrification services out of Basildon in Essex and Newport in South Wales.

“Our rentals business is very much an extension of our aim to offer innovative services, add value and provide excellent customer service. It is geared towards a range of our clients’ needs, from supporting their routine plant maintenance to special projects that require power, welding, lifting, material handling or welfare equipment,” concludes Martin Brown.

Keltbray Electrification Plant deserves recognition for the energetic and innovative approach which has been undertaken setting up the new venture. They captivated the electrification plant department from Keltbray Aspire, the team worked collectively to create a new highly enthusiastic plant hire company which also saw the addition of a brand new tool hire business.

The initial set up of Keltbray Electrification Plant, the staff increased by 200%, servicing up to 150 plant shifts per week, along with providing all the small tools requirements for the CPET and Keltbray Aspire’s North West Electrification Projects.

Throughout this extremely busy set up period, the team obtained a Four Star rating from their RISQS audit and have subsequently now achieved a Five Star rating from their second audit.

Keltbray Electrification Plant are committed to investment with their new machinery which has seen our long reach machine capability increase by a further 4 No machines with the added innovations of System 3 ALO compliant and intermediate slew locking system ensuring that operatives working with the equipment have the security of the very latest safety systems. Keltbray Electrification Plant has recently purchased a new PKR 290 Road Rail Crane and a Road Rail Truck Mounted Full Tension Wiring Unit.

Due to Keltbray Electrification Plant’s commitment to provide highly flexible truck based specialised plant they have the added daily logistical task of ensuring vehicles are located exactly where our Client’s require them. The logistical team have worked tirelessly, has liaised closely with all of their clients assisting them through various extremely difficult construction phases of projects ensuring all machines were available, placed at the correct locations however late in the day we receive a request.

To achieve these goals, the team as a whole are required to collectively and smoothly from an initial request for a machine to our operations / sales team, the readiness of the machine from our maintenance team through to the delivery of the vehicle. The achievements of Keltbray Electrification Plant in its first year have been astounding providing over 3900 vehicle shifts to enable safe efficient delivery of a number of projects meeting numerous client requirements. This unique service of supplying an on-site fitter to all vehicle locations also highlights the success that any plant breakdowns on site are dealt with swiftly and efficiently. The tremendous record of only 1% of any shift time being affected by fitter attendance reflects the success of the maintenance planning team and our servicing staff. The safety record too is second to none. Over the period of 12 months the business attained a zero AFR whilst working in all site and workshop environments. The workshop has been fully restructured with the latest of equipment to ensure the safety and the welfare of the staff is paramount and the supervision of the teams reflects this at all times.“